Panic! At The Disco: I Constantly Thank God for Esteban Meaning
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I Constantly Thank God for Esteban Lyrics
Forgive our sins
Forged at the pulpit with forked tongues selling faux sermons.
Because I am a new wave gospel sharp, and you'll be thy witness
So gentlemen, if you are going to preach, for...
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1TOP RATED
anonymous Aug 14th 2006, 14:08 report
I think that you guys are reading wayyy too much into this religion thing, I think that they are more metaphors, then to be taken litterally. If you litsen to the whole cd, you'll know about the "trilogy", the 3 songs that are supposedly about that girl, who I assume cheated on the guy, anyway, I don't really know if its only just those 3 songs that talk about that, I think this one could translate back to her too.
----give us this day our daily dose of faux affliction,
forgive our sins
forged at the pulpit with forked tongues selling faux sermons----
im looking at this more as the ruined wedding (evident in I write sins not tradgdies song) so this is like him saying you shouldnt have promised to marry me if you were just gonna be a b*tch about things and lie to me.
Just stay where I can see you. (cuz he doesn't trust her)
douse the lights! (turning off the lights to have sex)
we sure are in for a show tonight.(either the act of sex itself, or the sence that's gonna be made now that he's found out about it)
----strike up the band!
Whoa! The conductor is beckoning
come congregation,let's sing it like you mean it
no. Don't you get it don't you get it? Now don't you...Move.----
shes not at the wedding, and they wanna get a move on things, but she's not there, and he doesn't really want to admit it (dont you get it?!... Dont you move) like he doesn't really want to admit that this is actually happening to him.
----in this little number we are graced by two displays of character,
we've got: the gunslinger extraordinaire, a walking contradiction;
and I for one can see no blood
from the hearts and the wrists you allegedly slit
and I for one won't stand for this
if the scene were a parish you'd all be condemned.----
the 2 characters are himself, and his fiancée. Here he compares her to the gunslinger,a walking contridiction because she can say something to his face, but is totally different behind his back ie: sleeps with someone else. The next few lines kinda show how upset he was at the time, but how now he's over this and won't have anything to do with her or let her ruin his life.. And the last line kinda makes me think that there were other people who knew what was going on, but didn't tell him.
So, I interpreted it totally different then the rest of you, but it kinda makes sence when put into context with the rest of the cd -
anonymous Apr 21st 2012, 05:41 report
I understand where all the religious interpretations are coming from, but Brendon grew up a mormon, and in an interview he said he hoped mormons didn't hate him. So why would he write a song showing them up? I don't think he'd do that; especially since most of his family is still mormon...
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anonymous Jan 18th 2012, 16:07 report
Hi, same person as above :) also 'the hearts and wrists you allegedly slit' i think this refers to the religious practice of self harm as a form of cleansing ones soul of sins, so in the context of the marriage, the wife claims that she has been punished enough for her past cheating
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anonymous Jan 18th 2012, 15:58 report
I reckon its talking about a marriage, not nessessarily connected with the trilogy, in the song the preacher may be used as a metaphor for the wife. I think the wife had cheated on the husband in the past but claims to have stopped and only loves him now. However the husband does not feel that she is passionate and committed to him. In the first verse the husband talks about how each day the wife claims her innocence and love for him but she doesnt not ' preach with conviction' he also says that she knows that he truly loves her. The chorus speaks of the 'conductor beckoning' this could be the wife pleading for him to express his love for her (possibly through sex) and the husband is upset that she accuses him of not loving her and isso demanding of him though sheis not loyal her self. This again relates to the metaphor of the preacher who asks so much of his congregation but doesnot practice what he preaches. I think the 'two displays of character' are both the wife, her pleading for his forgiveness of her past sins while she pressures him for affection. Yea i dont want to go into much more detail aye, theres lots that suggests this meaning but that just what i think :)
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anonymous Jan 4th 2012, 22:02 report
Time to post a simplified version of the lyrics under the verses again! :) This one took a lot more thinking though.
Give us this day our daily dose of faux affliction
Forgive our sins
Forged at the pulpit with forked tongues selling faux sermons.
Because I am a new wave gospel sharp, and you'll be thy witness
So gentlemen, if you are going to preach, for God sakes preach with conviction!
(Give us that daily feeling of false pain. Forgive things that we've done wrong that were invoked by you standing in front of us and lying greatly to our faces, you demon. I'm the new good guy, and you've seen it. If you're going to tell me, or anybody, something, at least make it convincing.)
Strike up the band!
Whoa-oh, the conductor is beckoning
Come congregation, let's sing it like you mean it
No. Don't you get it, don't you get it? Now don't you move.
([Idea... don't judge me. It just came to me.] The judge is waiting for this trial to start. The jury is going to tell you how it is. Don't get up and leave. You know you're guilty, so share it.)
Just stay where I can see you.
Douse the lights!
We sure are in for a show tonight
(Don't move. Tell everyone what you've done. It should be interesting, whether we can see your face as you say it or not.)
In this little number we're graced by two displays of character,
We've got: the gunslinger extraordinaire, a walking contradiction
And I for one can see no blood from the hearts and the wrists you allegedly slit
And I for one won't stand for this if this scene were a parish you'd all be condemned.
(Now here we have two different sides of you. [Though he only speaks of one character, unless the "contradiction" part is where a second comes in.] The backstabber. You can say anything to my face, but do the opposite anywhere else. Sadly, there's no proof of all this pain you've caused. I refuse to put up with this. You're such a sinner that even the church would condemn you.)
Just stay where I can see you
Douse the lights!
We sure are in for a show tonight
Just stay where I can see you
Douse the lights!
We sure are in for a show tonight
(Stay there. Tell everyone what you've done. This should be entertaining whether people can see you or not when you say it.)
Just a theory that it referrs to a court. I really don't know. -
anonymous Dec 20th 2011, 13:19 report
my interpretation is this... it's talking about christians that act all holy, go through all the motions on the outside, but inside their hearts don't change. christianity is all about the heart and compassion. if we dress up nice and pretty, serve at church when eyes are on us, and leave the church and behave like total heathens we're giving christians a bad rap. "come congregation let's sing it like you mean it". this means that we need to have our hearts in it. "i can see no blood from the hearts and the wrists you allegedly slit". this means that we're ripping peoples hearts out left and right. we need to all make it our goal to change into the image of christ, but we also need to be able to admit when we're wrong, be real people and give people allowance to mess up. this is how we learn.
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anonymous Dec 20th 2011, 11:07 report
Personally, I believe he is speaking of the time in history when there were some people were confessing their sins and priests would make them pay money. Or when they said doing certain things would get them a ticket straight to heaven
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anonymous Dec 4th 2011, 14:25 report
I think that it's about the hypocrisy of Christian churches in general. It's not so much baahing Christianity as it is bashing some of those who preach it. He's saying that their so-called sins are just there to gain power over people, get them to confess (possibly in the Eastern style where people confess at the pulpit in front of the whole congregation; "stay where i can see you" and "We sure are in for a show tonight") The "And I for one can see no blood; From the hearts and the wrists you allegedly slit" part implies that the singer doesn't believe that these are real sins or cause any harm. THIS SONG IS
NOT ABOUT EMO/SCENE KIDS!!! It is a sarcastic statement about hypocrisy and control in religion! -
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anonymous Aug 28th 2011, 17:53 report
I don't think this song is literally about religious cynicism (although I could be wrong becuse Ryan Ross is known to be anti catholic/atheist) but I think it's about people or fans who pretend to have gone through hard times like Ryan (his abusive alcoholic father) just because they like to romanticize the 'tortured' image. The line about faux affliction is about forked tongues is about people lying just to identify themselves with Ryan and his childhood pain. The line about the contradiction and "I for one can see no blood from the hearts and wrists you allegedly slit" is Ryan saying they have no idea what he's gone through. Lastly, the lines "stay where I can see you" and "sing it like you mean it" are about Ryan encouraging these people to be themselves and that they don't need act a certain way to be cool.
So this way off topic from what everyone else was interpreting... So sorry if this doesn't make sense to anyone else. -
anonymous Aug 12th 2011, 17:10 report
This song is partially about the character Esteban from Thornton Wilder's "The Bridge of San Luis Rey." (The book has a very religion-bashing theme, hence the religion-bashin theme of the song.)
Esteban was an orphan who grew up with only his twin brother, Manuel, for a companion, and raised by the local nun. ("Give us this day our daily douse of faux affliction.") The two were very close, even creating their own language, until Manuel began a secret relationship with a stage-actress, whom he ends up dumping because he didn't want to endanger his friendship with Esteban.
Manuel then gets some sort of leg injury/infection and a fever, which eventually leads to his death, before he dies, Esteban is the only one who takes care of him, and in his delirious pain, Manuel would scream at him, blaming him for the end of his relationship with the actress.
Esteban falls into depression after Manuel dies, even pretending to be his twin brother when people asked which one on he was. ("We're graced by two displays of character.") He carves away the ceiling of the hotel room he's staying in to get to the rafter and tries to hang himself, but is stopped by a friend. The two, while on a business trip, cross the bridge of San Luis Rey, and are on it when the breaks, killing them. -
anonymous Jul 8th 2011, 04:13 report
You all are reading to much into the song
The only songs that have anything to do with the narrator being cheated on are 7, 9 and 10
the story ends after "I write sins not tragedies"
This song is obviously about the Emo scene becoming popular and the posers that inhabit it
And I for one can see no blood from the hearts and the wrists you allegedly slit
And I for one wont stand for this if this scene were a parish you'd all be condemned.
This is the biggest giveaway
Panic is using a church as an allegory to a Emo show
I for one can see no blood from the hearts and the wrists you allegedly slit
Posers claiming to be cutters, since cutting is the "It" thing in the Emo community
I for one wont stand for this if this scene were a parish you'd all be condemned.
Self explanatory
If they were in church the posers would be condemned for "sinning" lying and being posers in general -
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B_Dubb_B Apr 19th 2011, 05:49 report
Esteban is another name for Jesus. It means crown in Portuguese, Spanish, and Greek. I think this song is about the band's opinion that religion does nothing but fool people.
"Give us this day our daily dose of faux affliction, Forgive our sins" is what the members of the congregation act like.
"Forged at the pulpit with forked tongues selling faux sermons" is describing the "sins" or ideology of the church, that is all made up by the church or those that passed the religion down through the generations.
That's just my opinion. -
anonymous Dec 25th 2010, 20:08 report
new wave gospel = atheism. imo, the song is about christians not acting christianly and the rejection of going to church to absolve sin through god by instead taking responsibility for one's own actions. hence the metaphor of the gunslinger (sin, definite hyperbole unless this suggests church goers committing literal mass murder, though mass murder could also suggest the mass number of people buying into the fallacies of religion and thus are the walking dead) and not seeing any blood (confession and absolution of sin) at the scene. this is perhaps an allusion to the crusades where innocents were murdered in the name of god.
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anonymous Dec 14th 2009, 23:25 report
Well if you've ever read the crucible the lyrics seem to fall quite nicely into place regarding the Salem Witch Hunts along time back, most seemingly regarding the character of the accuser(s). I do however doubt that there is any connection to the song by intention but hey, I couldn't tell you myself
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anonymous Jul 9th 2009, 18:49 report
"In this little number we're graced by two displays of character,
We've got: the gunslinger extraordinaire walking contradictions
And I for one can see no blood from the hearts and the wrists you allegedly slit
And I for one won't stand for this if this scene were a parish you'd all be condemned."
- I think this line particularly is about his fiance.
She is for one a "gunslinger extraordinaire" (a person who can shoot very accurately and has been involved in many fights using guns, in other words she was good at hurting people around her and was used to it). She is also a walking contradiction ( constantly contradicts herself). This is her true character.
The other side of her is the one he saw in her before she done him wrong, a good side where she is the exact opposite of the formal, despite everything others supposedly have said to him about her, he never took any notice because he was blinded by love. -> "And I for one can see no blood from the hearts and the wrists you allegedly slit"
Now that he finally sees her true colours, he won't stand for anymore of it. He says if this was anyone else they would have dumped her straight away.
Thats what I think about it anyways I won't describe the whole song cause that would take forever! =] & I'm not too sure about this song actually being about religion. Come on it is Panic at the disco we're talking about here. -
anonymous Apr 10th 2009, 14:00 report
seeing as Ryan [ the lyricist] is an atheist i think this is sortave mocking religion.
and yes, i believe its all woven in with sins, beter if u do, and lying.
becuase the first verse of the song is a prayer of some sort. -
anonymous Jan 12th 2009, 18:47 report
I think it's about the Hunter: The Reckoning series of video games. Referring more specifically to the 'Judge' character, Father Esteban Cortez.
"Give us this day our daily dose of faux affliction
Forgive our sins" There are several churches around, one even has a demonic teddy bear inside.
"We've got: the gunslinger extraordinaire walking contradictions" Father Esteban carries around a blessed cross-shaped sword and a crossbow.
"Just stay where I can see you
Douse the lights!"
We sure are in for a show tonight" there are a few areas that are either low lit, or that the lights go out altogether. You'd want a zombie or a werewolf staying right where they are if you can't see them anymore, too.
"Strike up the band!
Whoa-oh, the conductor is beckoning
Come congregation, let's sing it like you mean it
No. Don't you get it, don't you get it? Now don't you move."
more of the monsters not moving. "Strike up the band" is a metaphor for calling down the boss mobs.
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panicfanforever Nov 7th 2008, 11:35 report
this song is very nice and perhaps the best song on fever you cant sweat out.it simple tell abouts some people's wrong practice of asking for forgiveness about there sins. Most of us thinks that if they go to church, all the sins will be erased which is wrong.Some preachers like pastors and priest give so many advices that even too there selfs cannot practice what they preach.
In this world today so many Christian churches are getting into trouble claiming that they are the true God's church and they also accused other christian church as faux ,But it is not because God's preach sakes with conviction..
In the chorus part, they now talk about themself..STRICT AT THE BAND..which is the relation between them self performing on stage and the audience watching them..they are convincing the audiences to believe there point of view..( THE CONDUCTOR IS BECKONING)..
On the second part, the band attempts that the audiences will be divided into two (GRACED BY TWO DISPLAYS OF CHAraCTER)..there will be who agrees (gunslinger) and those who will dis-agree (Walking contradiction)....
Just stay where i can see you
douse the lights
this means that the light should always be on so that there is a transparency of everything that is happening..
This is a face to face and straightforward song dedicated to those faux person..or a wolf in sheep's clothing
pretending to be a child of God
This song PATD rocks -
anonymous Aug 28th 2008, 03:47 report
In this little number we're graced by two displays of character,
We've got: the gunslinger extraordinaire, the walking contradictions.
He's talking about the two kinds of religious leaders, the 'gunslinger extraordinaire' or the fundamentalist, violent leader, and the 'walking contradictions', the hypocritical leader.
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